GET THE FACTS! 2012 CORN FACT BOOK TELLS AMAZING STORY OF AG INNOVATION

JULY 2012

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(Posted Thu. Jul 5th, 2012)

July 5: Information on America’s family farmers and the positive contribution they make to the nation’s economy is now just a click away as the 2012 edition of the Corn Farmers Coalition’s Corn Fact Book is now available online.

The educational publication, funded by corn checkoff programs in 14 states, is being widely distributed in Washington in support of a major educational campaign that includes print, radio, online and large scale messages in public transit stations. It is now available to the general public.

“The Corn Fact Book provides the hard data about the corn industry not often presented to urban audiences, but it also gives real insight into the family farmers who make agriculture a thriving, vital part of our nation’s economy and culture,” said National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer. “This publication celebration the amazing advances farmers have made in growing more while using fewer resources and inputs. It is the modern-day success story of U.S. family farmers, demonstrating what we can all achieve together through hard work and dedication.”

Centered on key facts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency, this publication chronicles how farmers have used generations of knowledge and married it with modern technology and innovation to provide plenty or corn for our expanding list of uses.

As public interest increasingly focuses on sustainability, the Corn Fact Book details the incredible advancements that allow U.S. farm growers to produce more using fewer inputs year after year. Using new techniques and technologies, corn farmers have managed to decrease soil erosion by 44 percent in two decades, using 37 percent less energy per bushel, while producing 20 percent more corn per acre than anywhere else in the world.

“We are proud to be farmers and to be growing crops on the same land my great grandfather did,” said Kyle Cantrell, a Nebraska family farmer featured in the Corn Fact Book. “Our hope is to pass on the land to our children and that they will continue the family tradition of caring for the land and improving our stewardship with each generation.”

The facts show that the efforts by family farmers to improve their environmental footprint are paying off. Thirty-two percent less water is needed to produce a bushel of corn and emissions produced in growing and harvesting a bushel of corn has dropped 30 percent.